Another change at Infosys as Compliance Chief David Kennedy quits

BENGALURU: Infosys’ General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer David Kennedy has left the company, the latest in a long line of management changes at India’s second-largest IT firm. The Bengaluru-based Infosys said it entered into a separation accord with Kennedy on December 23 and “mutually agreed that Mr Kennedy’s employment with the company will cease on December 31, 2016.”

“Kennedy will receive aggregate severance payments of $868,250 plus reimbursements for COBRA (insurance) continuation coverage over a period of 12 months,” Infosys said in a statement dated December 31.

Kennedy, based in Palo Alto, California, was one of eight executives whose compensation structure was revised by Infosys in November. Under amended compensation, Kennedy was to earn $557,500 in fixed pay and $472,500 in variable pay.

An Infosys spokesperson declined to state the reason for Kennedy’s departure. Infosys said deputy general counsel Gopi Krishnan would function as acting general counsel while the company searched for a new legal head.

The severance payments would be subject to the fulfilment of conditions in the separation agreement, Infosys added. Kennedy was appointed by Chief Executive Vishal Sikka and joined the company in 2014. He is the eighth high-profile executive to leave Infosys since Sikka took over in August 2014.

Kennedy’s severance of about Rs 6 crore is about a third of what former Infosys chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal received in October 2015. Bansal got over Rs 17 crore in severance – amounting to 24 months’ pay – leading to rumours that Infosys was trying to silence him. The company subsequently said two separate independent investigations into the handling of Bansal’s exit revealed no wrong-doings.